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Help!
Posted on 12th January 2024 by pj

About Emma Newman

Emma Newman writes short stories, novels and novellas in multiple speculative fiction genres. She is a professional audiobook narrator, and a Hugo Award winning podcaster. Her current podcasts are ‘Imagining Tomorrow’ and ‘Tea and Sanctuary’. www.enewman.co.uk

The Script

Comic script - this is exactly what happened to my son in the small hours of this morning. I only saw the messages when I woke up, and he told me what happened once he was awake. It made me laugh, and I immediately thought it might make a fun comic and Beanie agreed!

A young man (if you want to base him loosely on my son, he’s 16 years old, tall, short brown hair, blue eyes) is about to leave his room but spots a huge spider on wall next to the door (it is on the wall that the door would rest against when open and the dressing gown hanging on the back of the door would brush against where the spider is) . 

He is terrified of spiders, so he can’t open the door. It’s the small hours of the morning.

He leaps onto his bed on the other side of the room, a bookcase blocking the line of sight between him and the spider and tries to phone his Mum who is sleeping in her room across the landing, and message her on WhatsApp, but her phone is on ‘Do not disturb’ so there’s no answer. 

Panicking, he phones friends until one finally picks up - ‘Help! There’s a huge spider in my room!’

Friend: What colour is it?

Beanie: Black? Brown? I dunno! It was BIG

Friend: You’re okay, I don’t think they can climb.

Beanie: IT’S ON MY WALL! (throughout the rest of this exchange the friend also now freaking out is just making Bean panic even more!) 

Friend: Oh, that one can climb then! Just dash out the door!

Beanie: It’s by the door, I can’t get out!

Friend: IT’S IN YOUR ROOM?! 

Beanie: Yes, I told you this!

He peeps round the bookcase. The spider is gone!

Beanie: It’s gone!

Friend: THAT MEANS IT COULD BE ANYWHERE!

Beanie’s eyes flick to all the posters it could be hiding behind, and all the clothes and stuff on his floor it could now be lurking under.

Beanie: YOU ARE NOT HELPING!

He hangs up and hides in the duvet. If you think that a final shot on the spider’s hiding place would be a good ending, do add that in, but happy to end it on Beanie hiding.

 

Artists Notes

One of the goals of the project was to try and work with as many writers as possible, and so I told every writer "Don't worry - I'll take any format of script" - there are sort of comic script standards, and attempts have been made in the past to really hammer them in, but for the most part every writer I work with works a little different anyway. That said, this script required a lot of thinking about to get the most out of the story (you can argue amongst yourself whether that's what I did).

Firstly there's a sort of action limit in comics, every action will usually require one panel - character opens door, walks through door, locks door? that's three panels. I felt like, on this script, there was too much going on to fit in the super limited single page I had, plus some of the action I wanted to build it up a bit more, so I knew I'd be putting a bunch of panels towards the getting ready to go out (because build up build up build up build up PUNCHLINE!) I also knew I wanted the dialogue interaction to have that ratatatat rapid delivery, which meant I'd get a single panel for that set of dialogue. This meant brutalising the story a little, cutting out the contacting of his mum and going straight to the friend. I also wanted a little end note on the spider - I thought that would be fun, a happy little chappy. (remove the last spider panel and the page feels like it's not quite finished - it's a figurative and literal full stop)

The manga shading effect/speedlines came after I'd drawn it and realise it would work better with a little bit of manga (tonally too, fits a teen), and the coloured lettering was because I needed someway to quickly distinguish the two sets of dialogue (I decided to eschew clip studio's balloon lettering tools a) because it would take ages to get exactly how I want it and b) because I thought I could add more character to it that way. The background of the room is pretty much a direct tracing of my teenage son's bedroom (which is so quintessentially teenager it looks like a set from a modern John Hughes teen comedy). (And it's all my son's work, he's done that all without parental help)

Anyway. This was finished the day before publication, but I think it turned out ok.

Oh, and because I drew it, and then slathered lettering all over it, here's the page without dialogue...

Wolf Dredd(reprise)

Posted on 14th February 2024 by pj
One of the things I’ll do on the patreon is revist work and see if I can, using a minimal of editing tools push and pull it to improve the storytelling. There’s a surprising amount of improvements can be made by resizing things and finding a better balance of a composition.

Usually, I’ll try and do this before a thing sees print, but, of course, the nature of print means once it’s printed it’s done.

Here’s a reprise on the Dredd Wolf pic. The original and edit…


So, the only real difference is a punched up the size of Dredd. He’s bloody massive now, but the flat, dark red colouring keeps him recessed – he’s not as front and centre as a b&w image would be. He better frames the wolves behind him and we’re more engaged with what’s happening – we’re pulled much much closer to the action, and the threat feels more real.

Basically we’ve turbo injected the original idea.

Not sure why I didn’t spot that easy of a fix, I suspect I was still thinking of it in B&W rather than colour. I’ve created a mock up of how the b&w might have looked, and it’s clear in b&w at least, your focus is drawn ENTIRELY to dredd. The wolves in the bg get a secondary glance. The big block of pure b&w draws your eye, and the many lines of the wolf merge to a grey in your vision.


Story telling is about figuring out where the focus needs to be for the image, and how to balance the various elements to tell that story. The b&w fails on that count, I think, but succeeds in the colour.

Something to file away for the next pin up I think.





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Dredd Wolf

Posted on 14th February 2024 by pj
When John McCrea told me he was writing a sequel to the Judge Dredd white werewolf story, I pretty much forced him to accept a pin up for it. 

The Cry of the Werewolf was one of those defining moments in comics for me, even now it tingles my spin thinking about it. Steve Dillon, werewolves, Dredd? A perfect blend of awesome stuff.

I was lucky enough to meet Steve a few times, the first when I was in my early 20s or so, in Belfast. He was a guest at The Talisman comic shop (later to become Forbidden Planet) and because I knew all the guys they invited me out for a drink. We went to the Empire in Belfast.

Steve, was, Steve. A funny, warm guy with lots of great stories. He told us about drawing the wolves in that story one hot summer in London (later on I found out he was living with Jerry Paris at the time, famous for C&VG and Bug Hunters).

I told Steve I wasn’t much of a drinker. “Oh” he said “You’ll have to learn if you want to be a comic artist”.

Second time I met Steve was in New York, decades later and only a few years ago. He was drinking with Garth. I’d everything with me to head off to my flight that was due to depart in a few hours.

“Hey”, Steve leaned in, “he’s trying to get you drunk, you better make your excuses and head off!”

Steve’s untimely death, came I think, when his artwork was actually reaching new heights. For an artist as naturally gifted as Steve (working professionally from the age of 16!) it would have been easy to sit back and let your experience drift you along, but the recent punisher work he’d been doing felt like an artist pushing themselves further.

John’s story and my pin up offer happened before Steve’s death. Work went on and Steve left a hole in comics, and it felt more important to me personally to contribute a pin up.

Here’s some of the background stuff to that. 





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Hey, hope you liked this post. Posts like this will only be available to Patroens with Back Stage Passes from Thursday, if you’re one of the early birds you can get a back stage pass for $5 – first 25 people only! After that it’s $10 for the same thing. I’ll be posting about story telling, using Clip Studio Paint as well as layouts and thumbnails for lots of projects. Come join me! (And if you’re already signed up – you crafty bugger!)

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Happy birthday Kirby.

Posted on 14th February 2024 by pj
The excellent Tom Rainey drew a picture of Modok and like a thieving weasel I downloaded it and coloured it.

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HULK!

Posted on 14th February 2024 by pj
A quick Clip Studio Paint Sketch (15-20minutes?) drawn using some of Frenden’s natural media tools. Sort of Bruce Timm/Kirby inspired.


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Hunted Pencils

Posted on 14th February 2024 by pj




This is from Hunted Series 2, episode 4 


Inks were a frustration for me, popping between digital and pencil. I think they look better than I felt about them at the time, but that’s sometimes the way it goes.

I tend to pencil multiple pages before I start inking them, a habit picked up a few years ago doing a Garth Ennis Battlefields book that required approvals on the pencils and then inks, before then I’d’ve inked panel by panel (I should probably go back to that, it feels like you’re more intimately involved in the drawing process, pencils then inks pushes you further away from the feel of drawing a page).

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Starting next week, these sorts of backstage things will be behind the patreon paywall! If you’d like to see them for the ultra low price of $5 per month, sign up quick!



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